Katy to bribe the schools to stop selling soft drinks

Katy Gallagher is promising to offer schools a teeny weeny little bribe in exchange for giving up the ongoing revenues of selling soft drinks to their students:

If re-elected in 2012 ACT Labor will establish a $500,000 fund
to install water bottle refill stations and supply reusable drink bottles to any school that agrees to end the sale of sugary drinks in their school.

Our aim is to completely phase out sugary drinks in ACT primary schools within five years and improve the health of all children.

…

Government and non-government schools, whether it be primary school, high school or college will be eligible to apply for funding of up to $15,000 to install up to 2 water refill stations and supply re-usable water bottles for each student.

The aim is to phase out the sale of all sugary drinks (like soft drinks, flavoured milk, juices and slushies) in all primary schools by the end of 2017.

If they really want to make a difference, they should weigh every child and base extra funding and teacher bonuses on the percentage of obese children in each class. It will make PE classes extra fun for those lazy fatties.

The ‘bottle refill stations’ can be installed much cheaper as a tap. If they do want to get fancy, why not pay for a fridge with a water filter inside for each year group? It’ll be cheaper than $15K per school and the kids could use it to keep their food in. They could also be used for cooking classes. Power bills may go up but wouldn’t be too significant.They could be turned off over weekends and school holidays.

Once a kid gets to college, they should be able to choose freely. Despite what most of society thinks, they are capable of looking after themselves

I may not be a plumber, but $7500 to install a tap does seem a little high.

I am guessing (though I have no definite information) that these chill the water and may also filter it (to avoid the common issues like legionaries). For that price I would certainly expect it. If it’s just spitting out warm, chlorine tasting tap water in the middle of summer – pass.

Stop supporting the provision of sugar to children through the school system by providing an alternative that people want.

If you ignore what people want i.e. cold filtered water delivered in an hygenic way (didn’t we just have a thread about urine in bubblers?) by saying use a tap, what chance have we of changing behaviour?

Government has an obligation to the community to do the right thing and not actively adding to obesity is the right thing to do.

Stop supporting the provision of sugar to children through the school system by providing an alternative that people want.

If you ignore what people want i.e. cold filtered water delivered in an hygenic way (didn’t we just have a thread about urine in bubblers?) by saying use a tap, what chance have we of changing behaviour?

Government has an obligation to the community to do the right thing and not actively adding to obesity is the right thing to do.

Pfft,
If they really want to make a difference, they should weigh every child and base extra funding and teacher bonuses on the percentage of obese children in each class.

Do you honestly believe teachers are responsible for kids presented before them being fat? In ANY way? We have several students turn up to school with their energy drinks in hand.

johnboy said :

Bubblers need maintenance which is a black flag to government wary of ongoing costs.

The damage that bubblers receive at schools is staggering. At a High School I worked at, all but a handful of the bubblers were damaged one weekend, several years ago. They have, to date, never been fixed or replaced – the school simply cannot afford them (along with many other aspects of the school environment). Bubblers are not cheap tap fittings, either.

Clearly, a water-bottle filling station would be more than “a tap” – probably having chiller and filter facilities. But there is one more thing schools will be responsible for maintaining within their school based management funding.

Honestly, I don’t see the problem with kids having access to “sugary drinks” as a treat at school; the big problem for “the fatties” is the unhealthy lifestyle and attitudes promoted at home – and NOTHING schools do will ever rectify a lifetime of poor parenting practices.